Improvement in table-forks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES B. SMITH, OF ANDOVEB, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN TABLE-FORKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,924, dated July 14, 1874; application filed June 10, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES B. SMITH, of Andover, of the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Table-Forks; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is atop view, Fig. 2 an edge eleration, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section, of a fork provided with my invention, which relates to what is usually termed the guard.

As heretofore made and applied to a fork, the guard has been an arm or piece of metal hinged to the shank, and provided with a spring to hold it when elevated. Such guard, when in an elevated position, inclines toward the prongs of the fork.

Forks have also been made with stationary spur and fulcrum guards, as shown in the United States Patent No. 26,579; in which case both of such devices were inclined forward toward the tines, and neither was concave or had any concavity in its rear.

My improved guard is not hinged to the fork, but is immovable relatively thereto, and inclines backward toward the handle, and is recessed at back to receive the fore-finger, there being a projection-hook at the upper end of the guard, to prevent the knife, in case of accidentally striking the guard, from slipping off it and doing injury to the finger of the I holder of the fork.

In the drawings, A denotes the handle, B the shank, and G O the prongs, of a common table-fork.

The shank I make somewhat broader and flatter than usual, and secure to it the guard D, inclined backward as it rises, and forward at its rear, with the finger-socket or receivingrecess a, and, at top, with the hook b, all being as represented.

The guard, at its base, is curved transversely, and is there much broader than it is at or near its top, such being to effectually shield the finger from injury by the knife.

A guard hinged to the shank of afork is liable to get rusty in the joint, or there to gather grease and foreign or offensive matters, and the spring is very liable to get broken; all such difficulties being avoided by my improved stationary guard.

The guard without the recess in its rear is a decided improvement over the usual movable guard, but with the recess the finger can be advanced farther within the guard, and thereby be shielded by it.

I do not claim a guard hinged to the fork, nor do I claim a guard made and arranged and stationary relatively to the fork, as shown in the patent No. 26,579, hereinbefore mentioned.

I claim- The guard D, provided with the hook I) and the finger-receiving recess a, and fixed to the shank B, and inclined back toward the handle A of the fork, all substantially as specified.

JAMES B. SMITH.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, J. R. SNOW. 

